Imagine this. You buy PoE currency online, after which you gleefully log into the game to kit yourself out with some new gear, only to be met by a crash. Or maybe you just got done clearing a difficult map and want to teleport back to the camp, and you crash again.
Path of Exile is a great game, but it’s also an old game with tons of patches, updates, reworks, etc. With so many changes, a bug or two is bound to pop up. If you keep crashing in Path of Exile, here are some possible solutions to fix it.
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The Reasons Why You Keep Crashing in Path of Exile
Crashes in Path of Exile are a common occurrence. Thankfully, they’re so common that the community has discovered new ways over the years to counteract them. Here are some of the top reasons for crashes in PoE and their solutions.
Your Rendering Settings Are Messed Up
When you first get into Path of Exile the game will automatically set the renderer to DirectX 11. You shouldn’t notice anything strange initially; until you get to Lioneye’s Watch that is. For whatever reason, entering Lioneye’s Watch (as well as other hubs) seems to crash the game so long as it’s running on DirectX 11.
To fix this, go into the options while you’re in the login menu and change the rendering to either Vulkan or DirectX 12, which should be located in the Graphics tab.
You’re Running Old Drivers
Updating drivers is tedious but necessary work, especially if you want to avoid crashes. Sometimes an update introduces something that conflicts with older drivers, thus creating crashes.
The fix to this is simple, just go into your Nvidia GeForce Experience app or similar and update your drivers. You can also do this for other drivers through your Device Manager by right-clicking on the individual components and updating them that way.
The Data Is Corrupted
Data is a very finicky thing that tends to get corrupted occasionally. Missing or corrupted data may cause your game to crash or not start at all.
If you’re running Path of Exile via Steam or Epic Games, just go into the game’s properties in their respective libraries and verify the data.
If you’re running the game on PlayStation, go to PS5/4 Settings, Storage, Console Storage, Games and Apps, and then verify the game data.
For Xbox, it’s a bit different. First, locate the game you’d like to verify and click on the […] button next to the play button. From there, go to Manage, Select Files, and finally Verify and Repair.
Your Data is Really Corrupted
Sometimes the toughest solutions are the best solutions. If nothing else seems to work, then reinstalling the game might be the only way to fix the problem.
If you’re on the PC client, uninstall the game in the settings tab and redownload it again. For Steam, right-click the game in its library, go to Manage then Uninstall and re-download. For Epic, click on the three dots next to the game and Uninstall then re-download.
On PlayStation, go to your game library, press the options button on your controller, and select Delete. For Xbox, go into your game library and find the game. Click the view button to highlight it and select Uninstall All.
Your Internet Connection is Down
A severed internet connection might be the cause of your crash. This can occur even if you’re playing on a Private League, thus cutting you and your friends’ divine orb farming session short.
Thankfully, the fix to this problem is super easy. Just turn off your router, wait a couple of seconds, and turn it on again. If the problem persists then it’s likely that the issue is from your provider’s side and not yours.
If that’s the case, then there may be no other option than just waiting around for the problem to resolve itself.
You Have Malfunctioning Hardware
Sometimes a graphics card can fry without you even noticing it, especially if your processor has an internal graphics card that can substitute it. Running a PC on just the internal graphics might be fine for doing basic work but it’s definitely not fire for gaming.
To check if your graphics card is fried or not, run a troubleshooting diagnostic on your PC. If it turns out to be fried, then unfortunately there’s very little that you can do other than getting a new graphics card.
The Servers Underwent Maintenance
While rare, it isn’t unheard of for maintenance rollouts to crash player’s games. These are usually announced a few days ahead of time via the developer’s official channels and even in-game in the hours leading up to the maintenance.
If your game crashes because of maintenance rollouts, then there’s not much you can do other than sit around and wait for the servers to go live again.